I just finished publishing an article for Suite 101 on the story behind Iron Man's creation by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Jack Kirby, and Stan's brother Larry Lieber. The article covers the different factors that led to Iron Man's creation as well as some surprising facts about his fan base.

I thin you're being too hard on Lee and Kirby- remember the anti-establishment(including anti-military) zeitgeist of the 1960s. Sensibly, Tony Stark got out of the weapons business and became a mainstream businessman, rather a greedy "Daddy Warbucks" clone!